The Grand Canyon looks small on Mars.
There are two great chasms, or trenches, in the great canyon system called Valles Marineris. The shots were taken from above.
The Ius Chasma is over 520 miles long.
The 800-kilometer Tithonium Chasma is on the right.
The great chasms, which can reach up to 4.3 miles deep, are just a small part of the entire area. The canyon is just over a mile down. The largest canyon system in the Solar System spans from the northern tip of Norway to the southern tip of Sicily.
Two great trenches in Mars' Valles Marineris, Ius Chasma and Tithonium Chasma. Credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
A map showing the section of Valles Marineris imaged by the Mars Express orbiter. Credit: NASA / MGS / MOLA Science Team
The ancient activity of plates moving apart is thought to have created these chasms. The mid-Atlantic Ridge is one of the places where the tectonic plates are breaking apart.
Mars is not nearly as geologically active as it used to be. The land of Mars is still shaking from earthquakes that may have been triggered by molten rock. There have been over 1,300 earthquakes on Mars.
Mark Panning, a planetary scientist and NASA's InSight lander project manager, said thatMars is not as active as Earth.
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